Acquisition

14 May 2007 07:01

First Property Group PLC14 May 2007 14 May 2007 First Property Group plc ("Fprop" or "the Company") GROWTH OF ASSET MANAGEMENT DIVISION CONTINUES WITH €90 MILLION OF ACQUISITIONS AND FSA REGISTRATION First Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the property asset manager, announces thatfollowing the acquisitions detailed below it has increased assets undermanagement by 68% from €132 million (£90 million) in November 2006 to €222million (£151 million). The Company has acquired on behalf of the funds it manages three office blocksin Poland, Romania and the UK, with an aggregate value of some €90 million (£61million). The properties are all well located for their use class and shouldearn a high running rate of return, having been acquired on yields of between6.8% and 7.7%, as well as offering potential for capital gain. The propertiesare respectively let to Prokom Software SA, one of Poland's leading listedcompanies, Millennium Bank S.A. and Cadbury Schweppes plc. As previously disclosed the Company is concentrating its activities on Centraland Eastern Europe. The acquisition of the property in the UK, let to CadburySchweppes plc, was therefore an exception for the Company, the purchase of whichwas concluded because it offers exceptional active management potential. FSA RegistrationThe Company also announces that it has succeeded in its application to theFinancial Services Authority for registration. The Part IV FSA registration allows Fprop to raise, and subsequently manage,funds directly from the public, rather than solely from institutional andprofessional investors. Fprop will now be able to access funds from a broadrange of investors and structure a wide variety of investment vehicles,including publicly quoted investment companies, unit trusts as well as regulatedand unregulated investment schemes. Commenting, Ben Habib, chief executive of First Property Group, said: "Fprop'sasset management activities have grown considerably over the past couple ofyears and continue to perform well. At our interim results we had over £90million under management, which was 275% over the previous year's figure. Withthe acquisition of these three properties, we now have over £150 million undermanagement, a further increase of over 68% in less than six months. We are alsoin the latter stages of negotiating a number of other opportunities, which willagain increase the Company's assets under management, and expect to be able tomake an announcement as such in the near future. "On account of the high values of properties in the UK, we made the decision inJune 2005 to concentrate our efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. As a resultof this and our emphasis on expanding our asset management activities, the Groupundertook a major transformation of its business. That transformation is nowcomplete, with the majority of the Group's profits derived from asset managementand over 85% of our holdings in this region. "The next logical step in Fprop's evolution was therefore to apply for the FSAregistration, allowing us to raise funds for and operate all types of investmentvehicles. Receiving this approval is therefore a great step forward for thebusiness which will allow us to deliver further value to our shareholders goingforward. "We look forward to announcing the Group's results on 6 June 2007." For further information:Ben Habib - Chief Executive Richard Sunderland / Rachel DrysdaleFirst Property Group plc Tavistock CommunicationsTel: 020 7731 2844 Tel: 020 7920 3150 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange